A little bit of light passes out of the firmament, never to shine again. The clearest representations that I have had about Mr. Cronkite is his presence in myriad period novels that were penned about the 1960s and the 70s, and even the
80s. He was de rigeur, and he never stopped his tireless work, writing and speaking out for countless decades. A gentleman always fulfills his duty, and Mr. Cronkite never failed his grateful public.

Walter Cronkite, the former CBS anchor known as the Most Trusted Man in America, has died. He was 92.

Cronkite's longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. ET Friday at his Manhattan home surrounded by family. She said the cause of death was cerebral vascular disease.

A news anchor when CBS News was in its heyday, Cronkite conveyed to Americans historic events including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the landing of the first man on the moon.

He was noted for his editorial during the 1968 Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, when he characterized the war as unwinnable.

"It is increasingly clear that the only rational way out will be to negotiate, not as victors but as an honorable people who lived up to the pledge to defend democracy," Cronkite said in that broadcast.

After hearing Cronkite’s verdict, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson is reported to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

Cronkite was anchor of CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, when he handed over the desk to Dan Rather. His nightly signoff, "And that's the way it is ..." was well-known throughout America.

He continued reporting for CBS and other networks until 2008.

Tributes from across the broadcasting world immediately began pouring in after Cronkite's death was announced.

"There will never be a newsman again — ever — who will have that clout," CNN interviewer Larry King said.

"He could change public opinion. No one broadcaster could do that. No one could touch it."

Don Hewitt, longtime producer of CBS news program 60 Minutes, called Cronkite "the gold standard" in broadcast journalism.

A life of broadcasting
(Tina Fineberg/Associated Press)Born in St. Joseph, Mo., on Nov. 4, 1916, Cronkite attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked on the Daily Texan.

He entered broadcasting in 1935 as a radio announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City, Okla. He later joined a radio station in Kansas City, then moved to the United Press wire service in the same city.

Cronkite first came to wider public attention as a battlefield correspondent for United Press during the Second World War, covering battles in North Africa and Europe and U.S. bombing raids on Germany. After the war, he remained in Europe to cover the Nuremberg trials.

In 1950, respected newsman Edward R. Murrow hired him as a Washington correspondent at CBS affiliate WTOP.

In 1962, he was made anchor of CBS Evening News, then a 15-minute broadcast. It became the first 30-minute network newscast the following year with Cronkite at the anchor desk. Later in his career, he said he regretted never seeing the newscast expand to an hour.

Cronkite's calm and sober style, and CBS’s reputation for in-depth journalism worked together to make him the most trusted source of news in America.

He was first on air with reports of the Kennedy assassination, breaking into As the World Turns with a live broadcast on Nov. 22, 1963, with the earliest report of the shooting. He is remembered for the personal emotion he betrayed in his first bulletin reporting the president’s death.

"At that moment I teared up — I just had a little trouble getting the words out," he said of the historic broadcast.

An anchor with credibility
Cronkite was anchor during events such as the Vietnam War, the 1968 Democratic Convention, the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., the Apollo space missions and the Watergate scandal.

Cronkite’s credibility and status is credited by many with pushing the Watergate story to the forefront with the American public, resulting in the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

"Nixon, to me, never seemed comfortable in the presidency. He always seemed to be acting out a rehearsed role. I thought I could see his knees knocking with stage fright," he said later of the disgraced president.

Cronkite won numerous awards for his journalism, including an Emmy, a Peabody and a 1991 Award of Excellence from the Banff Television festival.

He retired at age 65 from the news anchor job.

'Passing of the baton'
"For almost two decades … we've been meeting like this in the evenings, and I'll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I'm afraid have made too much," he said in his goodbye to viewers.

"This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman preceded me in this job, and another will follow. And anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists — writers, reporters, editors, producers — and none of that will change."

Cronkite continued to do reports for CBS, CNN and NPR, and also took on projects such as narrating an Imax film about the space shuttle and providing narration for Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World.

He released his autobiography, A Reporter’s Life, in 1997 and contributed to the TV special about his life, Cronkite Remembers.

He remained a fearless critic of U.S. policy and in recent years made acerbic critiques of the war on drugs and the war on terror.

He was married for 64 years to Betsy, a reporter he met in Kansas City. She predeceased him in 2005.